Afghan Troops Retake Control Of Remote District

File photo of the Afghan National Army fighting insurgents in Nuristan.

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Afghan Troops Retake Control Of Remote District

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Afghan troops have retaken control of Waygal district in the mountainous Nuristan Province on the border with Pakistan, a day after the district fell to the Taliban, according to officials.

Sayedullah Nuristani, head of the provincial council, said that Afghan troops recaptured Waygal district late on June 26.

Eighteen policemen died and 20 others were wounded in the hours-long fighting, said Abdul Qauom, the provincial governor in Nuristan.

The Taliban have denied reports that the district was taken over by government forces.

Meanwhile, late on June 26, 19 insurgents were killed and 8 wounded by Afghan air strikes in Kunduz Province in the north of the country, according to Abdul Suboor Nusrat, the province's police chief.

On June 23, following an attack on Afghanistan's parliament, the country's ambassador to the United Nations, Zahir Tanin, said that Afghanistan is under attack from "an unprecedented convergence" of Taliban insurgents, more than 7,000 foreign fighters, and other violent groups including the Islamic State.